British Airways
 

Taken from RTE

April 20, 2006 11:06
British Airways slashed fares by up to 50% to more than 65 European destinations today, stepping up its battle with budget carriers such as Ryanair.

The move comes two days after BA announced higher fuel surcharges on long flights, while keeping its £8 surcharge on shorter routes such as those in Europe.

BA's last full-year results were profitable but showed that it was losing money on short European routes where Ryanair, Europe's largest budget carrier, and others offer stiff competition. Unlike BA, Ryanair does not impose fuel surcharges and is not hedged on its fuel buying, leaving it fully exposed to soaring crude prices that hit fresh record highs today.


A BA spokeswoman said its new pricing would affect about 7 million seats a year. 'This is not a short-term gimmick, but a long-term commitment,' BA Commercial Director Martin George said in a news release.

The airline said its one-way fares within Britain and Europe have fallen by an average of 70% compared with a decade ago.

On Tuesday, BA raised its fuel surcharge on long-haul flights sold in Britain to £35 from £30 per flight, the first time it has increased the levy since September. BA expects high oil prices to boost its fuel bill this year by £600m to £2.2 billion.

Yesterday they said they were increasing fuel surcharges for the sixth time £35 I think was the amount:confused:

cheers


WB

aaaaahh, wondered when the BA Connect model would start to be tested, allbeit in a small way....

A few of the more astute analysts have picked up on the fact that BA does this every summer.

- what - like the annual strike, eh, W?

What next? Staff striking in the summer over pension defecits?

Just tried some fares for same period, in November, as last year on AGP-MAN return.
Including taxes a rise of 50%!:mad:

I checked my regular route LTN~IOM and the figures stay stable through to the end of the year. Although I did admire the cheekiness of the computer saying: Why not increase the flexibility of your ticket from £279 return, per person? On a fare of £69.20 that makes good sense!! :bored:

__________________
"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different."
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

BA Shorthaul Fares Announcement - Conspiracy Theory
 

Either there is a conspiracy to drive BA shorthaul head-first into the ground, or this fares war announced yesterday is a very clever subterfuge to force "Open Skies" through! Either way, the Investors should go head to head with the BA Board on this one as our profits, and ultimately our staff salaries and pensions, could be severely dented by our lack of profits!

Even the least business conscious of you up there in the clouds must realise that £29 fares (including all taxes) does not even make a small dent in our operating costs - indeed, with the costs of handling, we are deliberately selling that £29 ticket at a loss!

Now, the feeling in our camp is that this is a deliberate strategy to force the "Open Skies" agreement through - something that would give Willie Walsh enormous kudos, and enormous personal wealth:

A year down the line, as Shorthaul is shown to be making huge losses:

1. It will give WW the excuse to axe LGW Shorthaul altogether - except for one or two strategic routes.

2. It will give WW the ability to rationalise the LHR Shorthaul operation , thus freeing up those valuable LHR slots - the bargaining tool needed to make the US happy to discuss "Open Skies".

Our investors have kept out of the "business strategies" of BA for far too long - it is high time they became involved whilst our company can still be rescued from piece by piece dismantling and whilst some chance of a dividend may still be within reach!

Bealine :

Panic not. I find I have to go to Glasgow next Monday from Heathrow and have just been pricing up the trip on ba

It's £364, which makes it one of the most expensive for a long time. Easyjet from Stansted, by the way (as convenient for me as LHR) is £264 for comparable times.

I'm sure there's a £29 fare somewhere. I'm equally sure that I will never be offered it.

There is indeed a £29 fare. Its one way to Bordeaux in June. Costs £50 odd to come back mind.

And just for fun. How much does Ryanair want for a flight to Glascow/Prestwick on the same days. I know this might be inconvenientto fly to prestwick, but just as a comparison...

35 GBP all in.:eek:

Not at all. Flights that fit our meeting cost £157.64 return on FR. Meeting is in Stepps so for taxi to/from PIK an extra £50 each way over Glasgow, so works out the same as Easy plus the extra driving time.

Try air Berlin from stansted to glasgow

Air Berlin £204 return. But with only 2 flights a day no flexibility to change to a later flight if things overrun. Doesn't happen often but it does sometimes. I used Air Berlin last month on this route, a bit of a shambles organisationally, as I described here :

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=215796

It's interesting that of the 4 fare examples I now have, they almost exactly reflect the convenience, or lack of, of the different arrangements for me.

Don't forget, if it's LHR-GLA you want to fly, BA are not the only airline on the route...

Right. Well getting back to Bealine's orginal point about low fares not being sustainable, what the above shows, as I usually find, is that for those of us who are the sustaining base load for airlines (50+ sectors a year for me) on business travel, the much-vaunted "peanuts" fares are quite illusory. We are paying significant sums whoever we use and seem destined to continue to do so.

Regarding BA wanting to make short-haul unprofitable to use the slots for more worthwhile intercontinental services, they don't need any excuse or justification, they can just do it if they wish. But they don't. We have all heard the BA "short haul unprofitable" line for a long long time. In fact it all depends how the accountants do the sums. Recently I did an analysis of slot usage by BA at Heathrow over the last 25 years, comparing departures 1980 to 2005.

Domestic/Euro : 163 to 213. + 50.
Intercontinental : 33 to 76. + 43.

So despite all the hype about long haul being where the action is, of the 93 additional departure slots per day that have been made available, the majority have been given to short haul, quite a number of which have doubled in frequency. And short-haul still outnumbers long-haul 3 to 1.

All tickets are now changable for a £30 fee 24 hours before the flight + any difference in class.

Don't think that applies to the Franchisees as BA cannot manipulate their pricing (officially) as they are independant companies albeit marketing themselves under the BA brand.